‘Cult’ members who ‘wanted to construct own legal system’ jailed for coroner kidnap plot
Four ‘cult’ members have been jailed for plotting to kidnap and falsely imprison a coroner.
Mark Christopher, 59, and Matthew Martin, 47, both from east London, along with married couple Shiza Harper, 45, and Sean Harper, 38, both from South Benfleet, Essex, were convicted in July.
During their trial, Chelmsford Crown Court heard that Lincoln Brookes, senior coroner for Essex, received a series of “very bizarre” letters between March and September 2022, followed by emails stating that “corporal punishment may be administered”.
Mr Brookes described the messages, which claimed to be warrants “for seizure of goods and persons”, as “troubling” and “upsetting”. In one, he said he was accused of “detrimental necromancy”.
He referred the letters to Essex County Council’s fraud detection department.
Sean Harper and his wife Shiza Harper arriving at Chelmsford Crown Court for their trial. File pic: PA
The judge Mr Justice Goss said Mr Brookes was told it was “not a known scam and it was decided to keep an eye on it”.
In March 2023, Christopher sent “further malicious communications” to Mr Brookes.
The judge said that Christopher also hosted an online rally on 17 April 2023 where he “foreshadowed the closing of the coroner’s court and the Southend County Court and the administration of corporal punishment if need be”.
Mr Justice Goss continued: “You told those attending to remember that they were doing this because their country is going to be overtaken by Nazis.”
He added that Christopher warned that the “Nazis” would “kick your door down and mutilate your children for surgery” and those attending therefore had to “whack them to death”.
“The clip ended with you saying you were going to shut down the coroner’s court, administering corporal punishment if need be,” the judge said.
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Moment ‘cult’ tries to kidnap coroner
He told the four defendants that they “all attended that rally”.
Three days later the defendants travelled to the coroner’s court in Chelmsford with handcuffs in search of Mr Brookes, but he was not there at the time, Chelmsford Crown Court heard.
The defendants had entered a room where another coroner, Michelle Brown, was conducting documentary inquests, before demanding to know where Mr Brookes was and said they were shutting down the court.
She said that the leader, Christopher, “kept demanding that I find and get Mr Brookes”.
Judge calls Christopher ‘manipulative’
During summing up in the case, Mr Justice Goss told jurors that the defendants were “members of a group called the Federal Postal Court, or Court of the People”.
He added on the day of the attempted kidnap, the four defendants had driven to the court in two vehicles “displaying the emblem of your organisation”.
In sentencing remarks, the judge described Christopher as “manipulative and dishonest”. He said Christopher was the “self-appointed leader” with the title “chief judge of England and all dominions”.
Matthew Martin was given the title ‘sheriff and a coroner’ by the leader of his group. File pic: PA
He added Martin was a “sheriff and a coroner”, Sean Harper a “sheriff” and his wife Shiza Harper a “postal inspector and auditor”.
All three had been “qualified” by Christopher, the court heard.
Coroner ‘regularly has nightmares about incident’
In a victim impact statement read out in court, Mr Brookes said on Monday: “I regularly have nightmares about the incident and the suspects attending my home.”
Mr Brookes said he has had “initial trauma therapy” and is now “hyper vigilant about the safety of my family and myself”.
He said he had been driving to the court, having accompanied a family member to a hospital appointment that morning, when he received a call about what had happened and he turned around.
Mr Brookes said he was warned not to come to the building and was told “these are the people from the letter – they’re coming to get you”.
He said he suffers “flashbacks of the journey home” and at the time “was wondering if the cars around me were following me or trying to beat me to my house”.
Detective Chief Inspector Nathan Hutchinson from Essex Police said: “The ideologies of this group were concerning and they genuinely believed that they had the power to construct their own legal system, threaten others and were above English law.”
He praised staff at the coroner’s court for acting “calmly and rationally during an intimidating and traumatising ordeal”.
In July this year, Martin told Chelmsford Crown Court he was a “man of honour”.
He said: “What I do for a living, what I do every day when I wake up, I deal with state child trafficking.”
He added that it was “nothing to do with terrorism or cult, it’s strictly facts”.
Christopher, of Forest Gate, east London, Martin, of Plaistow, east London, Shiza Harper and Sean Harper, both of South Benfleet, Essex, all denied conspiracy to kidnap and conspiracy to commit false imprisonment, but were all found guilty on both counts following a two-week trial.
Christopher, who was also found guilty of sending threatening letters to Mr Brookes, with intent to cause distress or anxiety, was sentenced to seven years for the conspiracy to kidnap and 18 months for malicious intent, to run concurrently.
The judge said Christopher “lay at the very heart of these offences”.
He said the other three defendants “were prepared to commit offences while doing his bidding”, and jailed them for 30 months each.
All four were also ordered each to pay a £228 surcharge and subjected each to a restraining order, barring them from entering any courthouse in England and Wales without a prior appointment and blocking them from contacting Mr Brookes or Ms Brown.
Police have made a direct appeal to those involved in the murder of a teenager to finally bring her family closure, exactly 30 years after she disappeared.
Lindsay Rimer, 13, went out to buy a box of Corn Flakes late in the evening on 7 November 1994 and never returned home. Her body was found in a canal close to her home six months later.
Lindsay’s family have also marked this year’s anniversary with a renewed appeal for information from the public, particularly in the town of Hebden Bridge in West Yorkshire where Lindsay lived and died.
“This person should be in prison, not us because that’s where we feel we’ve been for the last 30 years,” her sister Kate Rimer told Sky News.
Juliet Rimer was just one when her sister was killed but has recently been reading letters and diaries to gain a better understanding of a life cut short.
“It’s just, it’s a bit of a horror film that we have to do this,” she said. “The fact that I had a sister that I never knew who was murdered, I just can’t wrap my head around that. It’s had a massive impact on me.”
Lindsay months before her death
Kate, who played the part of her sister in a police reconstruction a year after her disappearance, says the family believes someone has information that could lead to her killer’s arrest.
“It’s usually been my mum who does this but the emotional toll it’s taken on my parents means that they just can’t do this anymore.
“It’s incredibly emotional, it opens everything up, and it reflects back over 30 years ago and everything that we lived through then. And just the horror of a loved family member, a child being murdered, is a really bizarre situation. You live your normal life around that and then we’re opening up again to bring murder and death back into our family.”
In the years since Lindsay’s disappearance, police have spoken to more than 5,000 people and examined 1,200 vehicles. Two men were arrested and later released.
A new sighting of Lindsay after she left the convenience shop on the night she disappeared has been confirmed and police believe those in the community have vital information.
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Juliet, left, and Kate Rimer speak to Sky News this month
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Detective Chief Inspector James Entwistle of West Yorkshire Police made a direct appeal to those who were involved in killing and disposing of her body.
“Has this been on your conscience for thirty years?” he said.
“It’s perfectly possible there’s more than one person involved, its perfectly possible there’s a vehicle involved. Maybe you didn’t murder Lindsay but you know exactly who did because you were there and that’s sat on your conscience for 30 years.
“Now is the time to come and talk to us, now is the time to draw a line under this and bring that closure for Lindsay’s family.”
New posters featuring Lindsay’s picture have gone up around Hebden Bridge as part of the appeal for information and an increased police presence will be in the town.
Juliet said: “It has been 30 years but Lindsey didn’t deserve this and we owe it to her as her family to keep doing this.”
Lucy Letby suggested she could give “tips” to a colleague on how to get away with murder, a public inquiry has heard.
The child serial killer exchanged WhatsApp messages in 2017 with union rep Hayley Griffiths about the US legal drama How To Get Away With Murder.
The discussion took place a year after the neonatal nurse was moved to clerical duties at the Countess of Chester Hospital following concerns she may have been deliberately harming babies.
In a message to Letby, Ms Griffiths wrote: “I’m currently watching a programme called how to get away with murder. I’m learning some good tips.”
Letby replied: “I could have given you some tips x”
Ms Griffiths said: “I need someone to practice on to see if I can get away with it.”
Letby wrote: “I can think of two people you could practice on and will help you cover it up x”
Ms Griffiths replied: “Deal. I will get thinking of a plan. Get the cruise booked as our getaway.”
The pair were working in the hospital’s risk and patient safety department a year before Letby was arrested on suspicion of multiple murders by Cheshire Police.
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How the police caught Lucy Letby
Ms Griffiths said she was aware of the concerns of foul play and the connection to Letby by September 2016.
Shahram Sharghy, representing some of the families of Letby’s victims, asked: “Given the severity of the allegations that were made, and would you agree they are possibly the most serious allegations that anybody could make against a healthcare professional, were you making light of those allegations when you were referring to potentially committing a crime?”
Ms Griffiths answered: “No.”
Mr Sharghy asked: “Can you even begin to imagine and put yourself in the position of the families of the babies who were harmed when they see those messages?”
Ms Griffiths said: “I know… I am so remorseful. As soon as I saw them myself I was upset and I can’t begin to imagine… I can only apologise and say I have learned. I can’t go back in time but I have reflected absolutely on it.”
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Earlier, Ms Griffiths told counsel to the inquiry Rachel Langdale KC: “It was nothing more than a conversation. However, I truly and deeply regret having started that conservation… this is completely unprofessional, poor judgement on my behalf and completely insensitive. And for that, I can only apologise from the bottom of my heart.”
Letby, 34, from Hereford, is currently serving 15 whole-life orders.
She was convicted at Manchester Crown Court of murdering seven infants and attempting to murder six others between June 2015 and June 2016.
The Thirlwall Inquiry into the events surrounding her crimes is expected to sit until early 2015. The findings are expected by late autumn that year.
UK
Newcastle: Three men arrested in connection with deadly house explosion and on suspicion of cannabis production
Three men have been arrested in connection with a deadly house explosion in Newcastle.
Seven-year-old Archie York and Jason Laws, who was in his 30s, were killed following the blast in Violet Close, in the Benwell and Elswick area of the city in October.
Police said at the time that six others were taken to hospital “with varying injuries” after the blast and subsequent fire.
Three men – two in their 30s and one in his 50s – have been arrested on suspicion of two counts of manslaughter, and the production of a Class B drug, namely cannabis, Northumbria Police said.
They all remain in police custody.
Detective Chief Inspector Katie Smith said: “This has been a truly tragic incident which resulted in the loss of two lives.
“As a result of our ongoing enquiries, three men have today been arrested in connection with the explosion.
“Our investigation will remain ongoing as we seek to provide answers to what has happened.
“We would continue to ask people to avoid speculation surrounding this incident both online and in the community.”
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From October: Deadly blast destroys Newcastle house
The blast tore through a row of six properties divided into two flats each.
Drone footage showed how six flats in the middle of the building appeared to have been completely destroyed by the explosion and fire, while piles of debris could be seen in the street outside.
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Superintendent Darren Adams, from Northumbria Police, said on the day of the fire: “As a result of the incident in the early hours of this morning, a seven-year-old boy has sadly passed away.
“Despite the efforts of the emergency services, he tragically died at the scene.
“This is a truly devastating outcome.”
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